Days Weeks Months, and the Years Go By

It’s difficult to know where to even start. I’ve been absent for days, weeks, (it feels like months) and so much has happened that it almost feels like too much time has transpired to report back on it. But I’m going to do my best because in the last few weeks life has thrown out a rollercoaster ride of emotions and I’ve been lucky enough to be able to go along for the ride.

There have been some good times, some bummer times and some amazing moments that could never be fully captured in words no matter how good a writer I am. Sometimes you really just ‘had to be there’.

And if you were here for any of them I need to say a HUGE thank you!

June marked an entirely new chapter in my life and sharing it with (you know who you are) you was AH-mazing!

Let’s start with the ugly & work our way to the awesome shall we?

Abrupt Ending

By now anyone who’s even a moderate sports fan (or friends with me) knows that the Bruins lost in their quest for the Cup against the Chicago Blackhawks. It was a tough fought series and I think the B’s really held their own despite losing four games to two. And they lost on home ice. Which of course stings a little bit.

But as exciting as it was to watch my hometown team play some of their best hockey all the way up to game 6 (and as nice as it would’ve been to watch them lift the Cup) I have to admit that I’m secretly glad hockey is over for this season.

The temperatures were getting a little warm and with the shortened season I think this is the latest into the summer I’ve ever seen the boys in black and gold play. I mean, the season starts again in about two months. Plus watching upwards of four games a week was getting a little tough to manage. But I love hockey and especially hard-hitting hockey like the playoffs. But being in Phoenix means 115+ temps and now I just want to be in my pool for a couple months.

Speaking of hockey, some of the off-season changes have me reeling a little bit:

• Andy Ference, my second favorite player on the Bruins and my number one favorite environmental activist is being let go in favor of cheaper defensemen because of the lowered cap. This sucks in so many ways I can’t even begin to say how much it sucks. A Bruin and Boston community activist for seven years, Andy’s commitment to his team and teammates will be sorely missed next season.
• Nathan Horton didn’t entertain any offers from the Bruins before electing to go with his Free Agency status. Which basically just sucks because if ever there was a line that had chemistry it was the Lucic-Krejci-Horton line. We’ll see what this Friday brings during the free agency deadline.
• Pretty much every single core player with the exception of only a few will need surgery for something or other this off season. Bergeron played the last game with multiple issues (hole in lung, broken rib) and others like Horton, Seidenberg, Chara, all have injuries that probably had them playing at less than their optimal selves. I commend them for a job well done under the circumstances!

In hockey years I’d be about 172

In human years I just turned the big 4-0. Yup, I’ve actually entered the period of life where it’s all uphill from here. Yeah I know most people say downhill but that always felt wrong to me. I mean downhill is easier, you can toss her in neutral and just coast. Uphill seems like much more of a battle.

But I digress…

I made a promise to one of my very dear friends, Keith, that I’d write all about the party. Regardless of the fact that I’ve sat down to do just that a few days in a row now, I can’t seem to find any words to do that day any justice. I really think you just had to be here.

Perhaps when I’m looking back in a few years and thinking of the top five parties of my entire life I’ll have the distance from it to write it all out, but not right now. For now I’m going to leave you all with a word cloud that pretty much sums up the overall celebration that started with a big secret Matt concocted months ago, culminates with my crazy party on Saturday June 22, and ends the following weekend when my vacation ended and I finally was able to recover from the enormity of it all.

I love you all!

It’s Official…

I’m finally a paid Writer! I started pursuing my freelance career a few months ago with full force and since then I’ve had five articles published on Yahoo! Voices, three of which I’ve made money from and just last week I was offered a writing position as a blogger for a company that reports on socially responsible companies. Not sure when that starts but I can’t wait!

In the meantime I’m going to finish up my classes and books on how-to write various forms of content and just keep applying for writing gigs as well as submitting articles. My goal is to be self-sustaining from my writing in the next year and I can clearly see that path starting to materialize now.

Cha-ching

At the end of June we refinanced our home into a fifteen year mortgage, something we’ve both been looking forward to doing since we first got the place last year. With the increase in values in Phoenix (it’s a great time to own property here, things are climbing again, steadily but not out of control) we were able to cash-out refi and roll our car payment in plus take a little cash to make some improvements to the efficiency and functionality (plus the beautification) of our home.

In the next couple months we’re planning to replace all of our single-pane aluminum windows with Low-E double (or triple) pane, replace all the exterior doors to prevent gaps where ac sneaks out, spray additional insulation into the attic, replace the pressure valve for our house water, open up the wall from living room to kitchen for an open concept plan and remove the fireplace that takes over the living room, rip out the very poorly installed tile/carpet and put hardwood bamboo throughout, and complete a few other minor things that no one would notice but will make a huge overall impact on efficiency/uniformity (vent covers, doorknobs, etc.).

For the first time in our adult lives we made a good choice when it came to a housing purchase. But it wouldn’t matter if values tanked again tomorrow. We’re not going anywhere and now that we can start personalizing our place I’m even more excited to stay.

Overall June was a pretty kick-ass month around here full of old and new friends and family I wouldn’t have expected to see in my house anytime soon. It really seems like the last three weeks have been a constant party and cause to smile, laugh, and have fun.

And I don’t see any signs of that stopping anytime soon.

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Published in multiple print and online sources, Author, Blogger and Freelance Writer Jenn Flynn-Shon has been writing for publication since 2001. Follow her antics on twitter @jennshon

Two U’s Two K’s Two Down Two to Go

Joel Quenneville, head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, said before Finals began between his team and the Boston Bruins that Tuukka Rask, our goaltender, isn’t all that good. And man, I bet he’s chewing on those words this morning. Our ‘not so great’ goalie and the Cup-caliber Boston Bruins team standing tall in front of him pulled off a win in regulation (the first in this series) and…

Wait for it…

A shutout.

That’s right Quenneville, Rask now has 3 shutouts under his playoff belt. How many does Corey Crawford have? Oh, just one? Aw, that’s cute. What’s that you say? Crawford has a 1.74 goals against average and a .936 save percentage?

Wow, that would be so impressive if Rask wasn’t sporting his 1.64 GAA and .946 SV%.

Okay, okay. To be fair it isn’t like Crawford’s numbers are awful or anything. And considering 2 out of the 3 games they’ve played have gone into overtime it is a pretty hard-fought series. With this matchup I would have expected no less than grinding games full of heart and spirit. Neither team has let me down.

The Bruins have lost one game so far in the Stanley Cup Finals. That night Rask played 112:05 minutes as opposed to the usual 60:00. Almost two full games in one night? Impressive all around.

But now with Marian Hossa, leading points man, on the questionable list for Chitown in game 4 and Kaspers Daugavins fitting in just fine on the B’s fourth line with Shawn Thornton and Rich Peverley, The Hawks will have their work cut out if they want to win. Especially with game 4 taking place in Boston.

Call your arena the Madhouse on Madison if you like. The Bruins have the Gahden. Simple and unfussy. Gritty and tough just like the fans, ready to cheer their heads off for their team when they retake the ice on Wednesday night.

And if playing hockey were anything like battling the Devil these guys sure got it fahkin right, kid.

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Published in multiple print and online sources, Author, Blogger and Freelance Writer Jenn Flynn-Shon has been writing for publication since 2001. Follow her antics on twitter @jennshon

Steve Miller Really Knew What He Was Talking About

Time really does seem to be “ticking, ticking, ticking, into the future” at a pretty rapid clip these days. The past few weeks have been super busy learning all this new information on how to start and successfully run my freelance writing career, actually writing and applying to get some freelance writer gigs, chewing on my sequel in the subconscious (yes I’m still going to be writing fiction, no worries there!), and watching lots of exciting, long-winded playoff hockey.

I’ve barely had a minute to put together any kind of comprehendible thought that doesn’t involve SEO, keyword research, content marketing, some other industry specific term, or how many times in a day I can tweet with #BostonBruins.

So some of the stuff I’ve jotted down (because you know I carry a notebook and pen around with me everywhere) or uttered out loud has stuck with me the past couple weeks. In no particular order.

Refinancing your mortgage is kinda like losing your virginity

You wonder if it’s more than you can handle and you know it’ll hurt while it’s happening but it’s such an exciting prospect that you just can’t force yourself to stop moving forward. Especially because you know you’ll come out a different person on the other side. The pressure is off. Things can get back to normal. Maybe. I just hope at the end of it all I’m not left confused and bewildered, wondering if I made the right decision. And the bastard had better call me the next day. And if they can’t get it together to commit forever at least leave my big huge check on the nightstand and get the hell out.

There are at least 83 levels of awesome in “How I Met Your Mother”

Matt and I are TV bingers. When there’s a series that we have interest in watching but didn’t start from the start we add it to our Netflix instant queue and after the series is over we go back to watch all the episodes in one lump sum. Without commercials. “How I Met Your Mother” has been sitting in our queue for about four years and now that they’re coming back in the fall with the last season in the series it seemed like a good time to start watching from the start. I’d seen plenty of disjointed episodes over the years in syndication but something about knowing the full story is legen…wait for it…dary. “The Big Bang Theory” is up next.

Writing with keywords is a pain in the ass on a personal blog

No matter how much I want people to find and read this blog I just can’t make it keyword stuffy. It isn’t what this blog was originally set out to do and I don’t want it to become a chore or I’ll probably stop writing it. I write here to rant and rave and writing for content marketing doesn’t really fit in with that. At least not now. If I figure out how to do it maybe it’ll be so subtle no one will even notice. Until then I always have my website or Green Leaf Reviewer to jam pack with perfectly written keyword articles.

Hockey games should never be five hours long

Don’t get me wrong, I love that the Bruins are in the Stanley Cup Finals and I love that they’re playing the Chicago Blackhawks because having an Original Six matchup for the first time since 1979 is awesome. But there’s a reason I don’t watch much baseball. After the first four hours all I want to do is take a big old nap. So when the Bruins had to play a double overtime game to beat the Penguins and move on to the Stanley Cup Finals I figured that would be the longest game I’d ever seen. I figured wrong. After last night’s game 1 against the Hawks went into triple overtime and the game was within a minute or two of being the longest game ever in NHL history, I slept like a wee baby. All that screaming and excitement can really wear a person out. Please go back to your regularly scheduled two and a half hour running time. My east coast peeps shouldn’t have to be up until 1:00 AM watching these games. Unless the Bruins win of course. Then I don’t care if it takes seven hours. Carry on.

I love the smell of sweat in the morning

I started getting more serious about working out again in the past month or so and it’s all thanks to the stationary bike. That thing was the best $130 investment I’ve ever made. I ride at least five miles every morning, sometimes another five in the afternoon, and I’m already down about four pounds. It isn’t an extreme loss but if I can keep up the pace and intensity I should be up to twenty miles a day in the next few weeks and burning fat regularly. Exercise isn’t on my immediate radar so doing something quick like this really helps me stay motivated to keep doing it. The dancing thing happened a few times but I admit it pretty much fell by the wayside. Oh well.

Still wonky, still have sausage fingers

I found a naturopathic doc who seems pretty cool even though she’s very expensive and not really covered under my insurance. Of course she’s not. She gave me some plant based something-or-another to “completely stop” the wonkiness. It didn’t work. She goaled me to lose ten pounds in the next three months. I’m trying to do more than that. Not sure if I’ll go back or not. None of them seem to have a clue whether trained in east or west. Sometimes I think I’m better left to eating a more natural diet and exercising so I can just work this out on my own.

I’m wearing my hair up until it stops looking like Darth Vader’s helmet

You get what you pay for when you go to the cheapest possible place to get a trim. But really, she went a little too short and blunt this time. I asked her to do a small stack in the back so it would fall more naturally toward my neck instead of fluffing out like it does when it’s all one length. She said no and cut the way she wanted to. In turn I tipped her what I wanted to. Good thing it’s long enough for a ponytail and that I’m okay with my hair being up every day.

I need a new saying because “oh my god it’s a hundred out!” is actually low balling it

Mother fucker it’s blazing hot here. I mean I knew what I was getting into by moving to the desert but its only mid-June and we’ve already had twenty-four days at or above 100 this year according to the National Weather Service. With at least two more months of this on tap I’m just happy to have a pool and central air.

“No pleasure, no rapture, no exquisite sin greater... than central air.”

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Published in multiple print and online sources, Author, Blogger and Freelance Writer Jenn Flynn-Shon has been writing for publication since 2001. Follow her antics on twitter @jennshon

The Boston Bruins are on a Roll but Not Out of the Woods Yet

You knew it was coming eventually. I held out as long as I could for all of you readers who have no interest in sports, hockey in particular. But after last night’s four hour long, double overtime, game three between the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins ended in such dramatic fashion I’d be remiss if I didn’t write at least something.

Plus, this is the semi-finals and with the Stanley Cup Finals just mere games away for two lucky, hard-working teams it feels right to talk about the fact that the Bruins are up 3-0 on this last series before they could theoretically get to the big game for the second time in as many years.

But they aren’t there yet and as any professional sports player knows – it ain’t over ‘til the final goal horn sounds. Or something like that. So more now than ever is the time for the Bruins to bring their A++ game because the Penguins will not be put down without a fight.

And that fight will no doubt result in more bloody and bruised faces like this one:



Image Courtesy CBSBoston



So let’s just say I’m looking into where I can buy a broom but I’m not saying out loud just what can be done with one.

There are a few Bruins from last night’s game that I feel deserve a high five. Let’s start where no one else is and give a huge debt of gratitude to Jaromir Jagr.

Boston was iffy on Jagr becoming a Bruin and with good reason. In hockey years the guy is about a million and one. As my uncle said “he looks older with every shift out on the ice.” True dat.

But with age comes experience and as the (unquestionably biased) announcers happened to mention during last night’s game he’s been spending some time with David Krejci lately to help him improve his game. And centerman Krejci is leading the team in goals scored this post season with nine.

Which brings me to my other point about Jagr, can someone just give the poor guy a goal for goodness sake? He’s played all 15 post season games, has 7 assists, a +/- of +1, and 45 shots on goal (third after Tyler Seguin at 50 and Patrice Bergeron at 48) and the guy just cannot seem to put the puck in the back of the net.

Not to mention he’s working his old ass off every single night and last night was no exception. It was his play along the boards at the line that created the puck freeing to Brad Marchand who passed to Bergeron for the game winner.

Clearly Jagr’s the team muse because whatever he’s feeding Krejci and the rest of the guys is working.

But Jagr isn’t the only one who battled it out last night. You want to hear about some extreme toughness? Talk to Gregory Campbell who was out there during a Pens power play in the second period. He laid out to block a shot and ended up with a 100 mph slapshot to the leg resulting in a broken fibula.

Ouch.

But that’s not the tough part. The puck remained in the Boston zone so Campbell had no choice but to get up and play for almost a full minute on that broken leg until the puck was cleared down the ice. And what happened during that minute? The guy pushed his stick out to poke the puck away and broke up another play that could have resulted in a Pens goal. On a broken leg.

No pansy-ass players on this team.

Campbell is out for the remainder of the post season regardless of how long it goes but hopefully prognosis will be good for him to return next season all healed. He’s a key member of the roster and his presence on the ice will definitely be missed.

Everyone played a hard fought game, and I’ll even say that the Pens looked pretty good too for most of the contest but they were not getting more than the one goal through the brick wall in goal known as Tuukka Rask. He stopped 53 of 54 shots and in quite dramatic fashion at times. The man was a machine.

Overall the Boston Bruins exerted a solid effort that went until after midnight on the east coast and they left the Pittsburgh Penguins with quite a mountain to climb if they want to stay alive or take the series away from Boston. But coming back from being down three games is rare and I’m sure the spirits of the Pens were quite crushed at the end of the very long game.

And in hockey playoffs, because it’s the Cup, momentum and spirit can count for almost as much as effort when players take the ice. I’m looking forward to seeing if the Bruins can get it done on Friday night to advance into the Cup finals.

Oh, and as a side note…

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Published in multiple print and online sources, Author, Blogger and Freelance Writer Jenn Flynn-Shon has been writing for publication since 2001. Follow her antics on twitter @jennshon

Ride that Zamboni Right into the Playoffs Boston Bruins!

Despite the lockout that happened forcing all of us hockey fans into a world free of pucks and checks for a few months, I’m still a fan. For a few weeks I wondered if I’d get back into it again, if I’d be able to forgive all the crap that happened on both sides. In the end I decided I’m not in it for the money, I don’t fall on either side. I’m just a fan.

I like to watch the guys skate, I like to see what trades happen and who does well on what team and I like the thrill of the rush to the Stanley Cup. What they decide about contracts and all the other hoopla that comes with professional sports these days is not of any concern to me as a spectator. Not really.

So I stuck through the season and they were 40+ of the best games I’ve watched because every single one was like watching the playoffs. Teams for the most part brought their A game just about every night and it was high energy watching it unfold.

Being in Phoenix now we have the Coyotes to root for and I do like to see them do well because I’m a supporter of hockey in the desert. Rink rats and desert rats aren’t really that different. Sadly the playoff hopes for the Coyotes went down the drain in this short season. I just hope it doesn’t get them bought by someone who plans to move them to Canada. We have plenty of Canadian snowbirds here in the Valley, keep the ‘Yotes here and fill the seats!

But my real team of course is the Bruins. They only have a couple games left as I write this post on Friday afternoon. By the time this posts on Tuesday I’ll already know who took the top spot in our division – Boston or Montreal (Update: Stupid Bruins not getting it done!). Since the Habs finished just about dead-last one year ago, I have to scratch my head how they could’ve turned it around so fast this season.

Well, they did sweep the B’s. Much to my chagrin. And the chagrin of the entirety of Bruins Nation.

But by the time this posts, all of that regular season drama will be over and the playoffs will begin in short order for everyone. And most of the injured B’s are back in full force now. Watch out, here we come.

When the Cup Finals finally wrap up its likely going to be in the 110’s around here. I guess it’s just as well the Coyotes are out this season. Water skiing is tough wearing all that padding and the Zamboni wouldn't do as well on Lake Jobing.com Arena.

Posted for April 2013 A to Z Blog Challenge Z is for Zamboni

What’s Up with This Gender Debate in Sports Love?

Okay, who out there likes sports? In particular, who enjoys hockey? I do. Not a shock if you have hung around here for any length of time. I mean, not every post I publish is about hockey but a good majority of them are. In fact I just counted and out of my 412 posts since I started this blog in October 2007 I tagged 57 with something related to hockey or the Bruins. 14%? Not a bad stat. But also clearly not all I ever write about (despite what some of you might think come playoff time).

As most of you know by now my first novel, Ripple the Twine, is about a female Sportswriter from Boston who is obsessed with the Bruins. I used to be that girl too; many years ago I was quite the hockey fan. I went to lots of games with friends and family, professional or even just my high school games in town. The Beanpot was something I grew up watching every winter. But I let hockey slide when I got more into football back in the Nineties and only revived my intense love of the ice when I wrote the book. You all know the story by now.

When I came back to hockey a lot had changed as far as rules and the like and I wasn’t well versed in how to follow along with more than the puck. Then I started thinking about it and realized that back in the day I called myself a big fan of the Bruins but if we’re being honest here I didn’t know anything more than the names/numbers on the back of the guys sweaters and that if the puck went in the net you scored a goal.

But no one was kicking me out of The Garden or laughing at me because I couldn’t talk Goalie GAA and didn’t know what a two-way forward was. I stood up and cheered when those pucks hit the twine along with the other 17,000 some odd people and I’d wager that a good majority of them were just like me.

No, not female. Clueless in general. But not because of gender.

Fast forward to doing the research for Ripple, I got into a whole world of new information. I mean I was writing the character of a Bruins-obsessed Sportswriter. A female one in a man-centric world. I had to know more about the sport so I could make her convincing. I had to know what would make her tick and I really started to pay attention to the game. To the players, how plays form, how a winger knows exactly what his line mate is going to do and why. How it’s so much more than scoring and/or stopping goals.

And let me tell you I was hooked. Pun intended.

The action, the pace, the skill level of these athletes is, in my opinion, unmatched in the world of sports. Because they train and battle just as hard as any other athlete but they do it on a slippery surface in skates at extremely high rates of speed. Hardcore.

And then there was the cuteness. Now as a self-proclaimed Tomboy I’m pretty much always going to have a thing for the rough and tumbled Townie types. Not sure just what that is? Here’s a visual guide:



Andy Ference, Keith Yandle, Carey Price, Zach Parise, Rick Nash, Patrick Kane, Jerome Iginla



It seemed great that I could watch sports and appreciate the game play but that as a female (who is attracted to men) I got the best of both worlds in that I could appreciate the hotness of the players too. I never thought twice that it would be considered a bad thing to think a guy was attractive. All those guys in that graphic up there are current roster players on one team or another (But yeah, I omitted Sydney Crosby just because).

It never occurred to me that females were frowned upon in a sports community because they could enjoy a good looking man in addition to a hard hitting sport. Or that their knowledge of a sport would be called into question because of their gender. Or that just because they like the color pink they’d be labeled idiots in the eyes of the “official” sports police: aka men.

It never occurred to me I’d have to defend my knowledge base to men. I just liked talking about and watching sports.

Kathryn Tappen moved from NESN to NHLSN and she certainly isn’t laughed at. Naoko Funayama is the ice-level commentator for the Bruins. It never occurred to me that females would let themselves be frowned upon. And then I came across this controversial article the other day (this is a re-post of the one from the NY Rangers site that was taken down after the deluge of backlash that ensued).

You should read it, I’ll wait.

You got all that? Yeah I just have one question for the writer of this article:

Um…what the fuck?

Now here’s the thing. Do I begrudge this writer her opinion? No not in the least. If she’s more comfortable going to 70% off sales and asking the man in her life for advice on how to be a fan of sports then that’s her business. What I can’t get behind is her willingness to just put it out there so casually as if the entire female population should nod along in agreement and start saying ‘Oh good, finally I can stop watching sports seeing as though I only did it for my dad/grampa/husband/brother/boyfriend/uncle/friend and get back to Macy’s where I belong.”

The Rangers were smart and took it down but this narrow view going up at all makes me sad. I wonder if the man in her life is writing the ‘Men’s Guide to Asking Women About Shopping’. Because lord knows none of them ever did anything for themselves before we came along, right ladies? Thank goodness we were able to save them from all that confusion!

Really?

I’m not saying that women shouldn’t ask those in the know for help if sports is something they don’t understand and want to take a more active role in enjoying. And I’m definitely not saying they shouldn’t ask a man for that help. All I’m saying is why assume it has to be something a man knows and a woman doesn’t? Or that a man cares more than a woman?

In our house my husband taught me the finer points of baseball and I taught him the finer points of football and hockey. Neither of us looked down on the other for not knowing. Matt does most of the cooking. He’s the romantic one most of the time. I know lots of stuff about tools and construction.

Does this make us any less man or woman? Hell no.

So as the controversy continues to swirl about this posting I beg all of you to think more about how this relates to the perceived notions of the sexes and their roles in society and not how women can be just as big fans of sports as men.

Because in the end I don’t think the article had as much to do with sports fandom as a gender’s alleged place in the lineup.

Photos from here, here, and here

How the Return of NHL Hockey has Helped My Book Sales

Back in 2009 during NaNoWriMo, I furiously typed up the first draft of my very first novel. The main character was a lot like me - in her thirties, from Boston, and a rabid sports fan. Growing up in Boston it’s almost impossible to avoid being a fan of at least one sport. As a kid I fell in love with three major league sports - football, baseball and of course hockey.

When I started writing Ripple the Twine I knew Sara Quinn would be a freelance Sportswriter and I needed to give her a sport she could cheer for in a meaningful way. In the late 90's I'd stepped away from my love of hockey for other sports. The Bruins weren't very good (Note: this is not a deal breaker for a Bostonian as we are not fair-weather fans, can someone say rabid fan love and no World Series win in almost 100 years? Exactly.) Something just drew me to other sports.

I was heavy into NFL football at the time and following the Patriots (perfect example of a team New England loved but one that still constantly let us down in the 90’s). But I wanted a challenge, something I could research, so I decided to pen her as a Bruins fan. While writing her character my love for this fast-paced, heart-pumping sport was revived (with vigor!) and I found myself at countless games with my Aunt, watching almost every other one on television and out buying myself team merch.

The team was working hard and lots of trades happened that really solidified the power of the team. I worked on editing my book in late 2009 through early 2010 and started shopping it to Agents in late spring of that year. Sadly many a form rejection graced my mailbox.

If only all of us had the foresight to know what was to come over the course of the next year!

I kept querying the book and I tried to tie into the major hockey vein running through the main character's life not to mention her love of the Bruins. Especially since the team was starting to get good. Starting to get really good.

In December of 2010 I told my Aunt I knew they were going to win the Cup that season. Don’t ask me how I knew, there was just something about the team, something surrounding them that hadn’t been there before and all the pieces seemed to be falling into place. Unfortunately I must not have been a very good query writer because I continued to face rejection after rejection.

A stark contrast to the Bruins who just kept winning, kept pushing forward and advancing further and further.

After years of being shut down in the first or second round of playoffs the Bruins took the Eastern Conference title in May of 2011. My Aunt and I were at game 4 when they shut out the Flyers, a night I will never forget as long as I live. They won the next series as well and for the first time in my lifetime the team advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals.

On June 15, 2011 the Boston Bruins won their first Stanley Cup in 39 years. I was 38. My novel was only 1-1/2. And though we partied at the rolling rally parade I knew I’d missed my window for a major tie-in that could have propelled book sales for a publishing house and for me.

Then we moved from Massachusetts to Phoenix and I put the book in a drawer because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it anymore.

I was frustrated and had moved on to a new manuscript. I’d moved on to other endeavors. I ordered Center Ice and watched as many Bruins games as I could get my eyes on living in the desert. My Aunt even came to visit and timed her trip so we could see the Bruins take on the Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena. My fingers furiously pounded on the keyboard as I blogged constantly or worked on other fiction pieces.

Then I joined the Scottsdale Society of Women Writers and something inside just clicked. I pulled Ripple the Twine back out of the drawer and ran it through two more rounds of edits. I worked on the book non-stop. I hired my mom to shoot and format my cover art. I opened my own publishing house, Writesy Press, in January of 2012. I formatted the pages, found a print on demand publisher I felt comfortable with and said screw Agents and big houses, I’m doing this on my own!

On April 20, 2012 I self-published Ripple the Twine. My excitement for the book couldn’t be equaled. The day I’d gotten my first proof in the mail – a paperback book that I wrote with my name on the cover – I literally danced around my apartment for at least an hour. I told my husband he was taking the sofa that night – my book deserved his half of the bed.

The book did really well in its first few months selling numerous copies to friends and family and even some people I didn’t know. An old friend had even suggested to her husband to pick up a copy for his library in Newton, MA and he did. I considered querying it again but there was no time. I was on to writing and editing my second book!

In early fall sales for Ripple fell off completely. Surprisingly so did the NHL as the players and mucky-mucks couldn’t come to terms on salary and the sport entered a lockout. So I kept at work on my new novella, Reckless Abandon. I was nuts - editing seven days a week so I could have it released in fall as an eBook and then in print just in time for Christmas.

An unexpected health issue arose in November and though the eBook was released to rave reviews (thank you!), the print version was going to have to wait. I finally got that going at the end of the year and released it in early January, 2013. But then I thought back to how simple it was to publish an eBook on Amazon and decided it was high time to format Ripple for e-Readers everywhere.

I completed the formatting on January 4, 2013. Now I’m not saying that my book is responsible for anything in the world of hockey but after the Stanley Cup win and start of the lockout I think it’s only fair to point out that the lockout came to a conclusion on January 6, 2013.

Ripple the Twine went live as an eBook on January 8, 2013.

Coincidence?

Now as NHL hockey comes back and the premiere of a new show all about a South Boston family come barreling into the mainstream (Southie Rules, A&E January 29 – Can. Not. Wait!) I can’t help but send my love to the Tomboys and Townies back in my hometown. The Google searches and revived interest in our somewhat rough and tumbled Boston culture have spawned new interest and new life in my self-published first title.

Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go check the B’s schedule, we only get 48 games this season and I intend to watch as many as I can.

Broken Thought Thursday

Been a while since I’ve put one of these little Broken Thought Process gems together. Hold onto something and prepare for the barrage of random topics about to hit you like a heat wave in Phoenix in August. Wait…never mind.

Hockey

Even the very mention of this tiny six letter word makes me sad right now because a ten letter word has stomped on it and kicked it to the side with blatant disregard for the little guy who suffers due to the inactivity. That ten letter word is management. Sort of.

Failing to agree that the players are right…cough, I mean, um…move at all on the talks over player's split means that all games up to the end of September are now cancelled. That’s pretty much all of preseason.

And with players like Seguin and Crosby hauling-ass over to Europe somewhere, it’s not all that encouraging that we’ll see the guys back on US soil, er, ice, anytime soon.

At least Dish got their heads out of their butts and didn’t charge us for the Center Ice package (like they said they were going to do regardless) so that’s great but Dish Network isn’t the one who suffers. The people who suffer are the ones no one thinks about.

A dude sells you a pretzel. That person has a job that helps pay their bills and they’re probably making minimum wage. Now maybe they work every event the arena sponsors so they have full time work. Knockout 3 games a week and Peter Pretzel Guy just went to part time. And he probably lost his benefits in the process.

It isn’t just Peter – Jack the Janitor, Zelda the Zamboni driver, the Ice Girls, mascot, security guards, ticket takers – EVERYone suffers from a loss of revenue. And for what? A measly 10-ish percent of the revenue split? Please.

For teams like the Coyotes a lockout could be the difference between sticking around or leaving the desert. They just started to build fan momentum, don’t kill that now. Not to mention I don't have the benefit of other levels of hockey anywhere nearby other than the ASU Sundevils (season opener is tonight at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe, game starts at 8:30 and is against Texas A&M).

And while college hockey is nice (because it is hockey after all) I didn't go to ASU so I can't really get behind supporting them. Not to mention my sister would probably kick my ass for not rooting for the UofA Wildcats (who open their season tomorrow night against NAU up in Flagstaff).

There's no minor league team in Phoenix, the Sundogs moved to Prescott. So what's a fan to do but hope these NHL big-wigs can get it together sooner rather than later?

Health

Despite the fact that I want to be lazy I’m doing pretty good about sticking to a 3-4 day a week workout routine. I do what I feel like doing with no pressure. Some weeks I might do nothing but yoga, others straight up cardio and sometimes it’s a mix of the two. But I’m feeling better and even though it’s only been about a month I’ve lost around 4 pounds. Baby steps but I’ll take it.

Work

I think most of you know that I abandoned my second manuscript about the divorced 40 something who experienced more dating disasters than any one person should ever have to go through. When I shelved it I did so because I had an itch to write something with more punch, something adventurous.

So I did. I just finished the first draft of my very first Romantic Adventure. Think Romancing the Stone as an example of what I mean. But my story is nothing like that one; they’re just in the same basic genre.

The first draft was completed at the beginning of September, edits just wrapped last week. And now I’m supposed to be doing re-writes but I can’t seem to get myself to sit and work on it. But it has nothing to do with a lack of motivation or disinterest in the story. My issue is that I think I need to stop working from home.

I spend countless hours by myself clicking away on a keyboard or scribbling furiously with my red pen but this time around I think I need to inject the pace of the world into the book.

My main character is a Writer, a novelist, and a pretty successful one at that. She’s not the type to sit all day long inside writing without any other human contact. I need to find a place I like and start going there a few times a week to work on completing this novella. Because in the late fall I’m going to have to start working on the next MS – the first full-length book in the series about this character.

Oh and I’ve changed the title of the novella. Work In Progress sounded too youthful and not adventurous enough a title. Now I do admit it’s still “me” in that there won’t be too much blood or guts and you know it’s going to have a mostly upbeat ending too. But the title wasn’t working for me at all.

I hope to reveal the actual title within the next few weeks along with the cover art.

My goal was to get this out in October as an eBook with print copies available for purchase online but it looks like it might be sometime in November. Oh well, I don’t have an Agent yet so it is what it is. That’s the beauty of being a self-pub, you get to renig on deadlines that weren’t there in the first place. I guess you could say it’s the plus/minus of my work.

Now why did I have to go and say plus/minus?

I miss you already hockey…

A Shout Out to My Aunt Sue

A long, long time ago, my Aunt Sue took me to my first hockey game.  I wish that I could say I remembered the actual experience, that specific game itself or the overwhelming largeness I likely felt as such a small girl in a crowd of close to 17,000 people, but I don’t.  I wish I could say that I still had the ticket stub or that I could share a picture of the two of us together on that day, but I can’t.  What I can safely say though is that game was the start of my love of a certain sport and a true sense of bonding between my Aunt and I that has lasted for decades.

Why am I telling this story right now?  Well, as you know I received my proof copy of my book a few weeks ago and gave it the thumbs up.  I ordered a stack of copies, signed and packed them up. Smiling, I sent them out the door, excited for the recipients to get them.  And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. 

I didn’t specifically thank my Aunt for her inspiration and infectious enthusiasm for the Bruins.  I didn’t thank her for taking me to that very first game.  I didn’t thank her in the acknowledgements page for all the games we attended together since then; for the countless hours of talking all things black and gold.

And that is a downright huge fuck up on my part.  Because the truth is that my Aunt Sue was, and still is, one of the largest inspirations for me and why I felt compelled to tell Sara’s story in the first place.  She is the original hockey fan!  The original Boston girl, lover of all sports!

Sue was there when I found the perfect parking spot on Friend Street the night I did the research as we entered through the West Entrance of The Garden, something integral that made it into the book.  And the photo at the bottom of this post was taken that night.

Sue and I sat in one or the other of our cars together (in the other perfect parking spots that we got numerous times after that) until six o’clock when we could plug the meter in order to avoid possibility of a ticket.  We’d chat and laugh and just catch up on our lives during those times.  And I have to say it’s one of the things I miss the most about not being able to go to games together now that I moved out here to Arizona.

Sue and I shared a once in a lifetime kind of moment in 2011 when we sat in the second to last row of The Garden as the Bruins swept the Philadelphia Flyers in game 4 of the playoffs on their road to the Cup.  And then we, of course, went to the Cup parade when they won it all!

Sue answered my countless questions about the new rules after the most recent NHL lockout.  She also answered my countless questions on game play when I got back into the game after many years of not watching hockey.

Sue and I for the past few seasons have live-chatted almost every Bruins game and sometimes even had the chance to get together and have dinner at her house or ours to watch the ones we didn’t have the fortune of attending.  When we were back in Boston last November we went to a game together.  By chance the Bruins were here playing the Coyotes last December and we planned her visit to Phoenix around going to the game together.

Where was all of this in my head when I was writing out that page?  I can only hope she understands how much I’ve enjoyed all our time together and how much her love of this game of luck and skill inspired a character in my imagination.  I can only hope she understands how much it means to me.

Thank you Sue, if it wasn’t for your inspiration and friendship along the way of this journey this book never could have been.  I love you ♥

Where Are We At So Far?

Well I was definitely wrong about a few of my predictions in Round one of the NHL playoffs.  Some series haven’t come to a close yet, in fact only half have secured a spot and only 1 series in the east is wrapped, but I thought it would be worth taking a look at the stats compared to my predictions.  Let’s see where we’re at as round 1 will be coming to a close this week.

Western Conference

Vancouver vs. L.A. – I predicted the Canuckle heads, but the Kings took the series (in a major upset) in 5 games.  This was not, however, a major upset for me to watch the defending Stanley Cup Losers go out in the first round.  Suck it Vancouver.

St. Louis vs. San Jose – I guessed St. Louis and was right.  They took the series in 5 games.  A bit of a bummer that Joe Thornton is done now, but this one was pretty predictable with the Blues on such a streak this season.

Coyotes vs. Hawks – I put my money on Phoenix and they’re up one game on the series right now (3-2) (despite losing Raffi Torres to a 25 game suspension for a repeat offender head-to-head hit on Marian Hossa which sent Hossa off the ice on a stretcher).  If they win tonight they take it in 6, if not then Chicago ties and we go to a game 7 (exciting series!).

Predators vs. Red Wings – I was sure the Wings were going to hammer this out, so this one shocked me, but Detroit went down to Nashville in 5 games.  I have no strong feelings either way really but it would’ve been nice to see an Original 6 team beat an expansion team.

Eastern Conference

Rangers vs. Ottawa – Somewhere in the hockey-verse the gods are giggling at all of us (read: me) who picked NY to demolish the Sens.  And who would’ve thought it would be such a tough series with so many penalties on both sides?  This series has Ottawa up by a game (3-2) so they could actually win the round if they win tonight.  I’d love that because the Rangers, being the second evil empire from New York, must be stopped.  The earlier the better (read: so the Bruins don’t have to play them).

Bruins vs. Caps – I always vote Bruins, that’s no secret, but even I knew this was going to be a tough fought series when we got Washington instead of Ottawa (though I guess now I’m not sure the Senators would’ve been easier!).  Series is tied 3-3 and Wednesday night seals the deal.  Go B’s!  I think they can actually pull it out if they stay focused and maintain offensive strategy but Timmy needs a fish-slap back to his crease.  Again.

Devils vs. Panthers – Come on Jersey!  Don’t lose to a team from a state where outdoor hockey wouldn’t even be possible, I know you’re better than that! (No comments on my backing of Phoenix please)  Panthers are up one on the series (3-2) so it’s do or die time for the Devils on Tuesday night.

Flyers vs. Penguins – Another unpredicted upset.  Another recoculously over the top series for penalties, fighting majors and game misconduct ejections.  Seriously in one of the games (I think it was 3?) the combined total penalty minutes for both teams was 133.  Yes for those keeping track that is more penalty minutes (by 13) than if the guys played two full hockey games! Despite the fact that Neal and Asham seemed to be looking to take Giroux, Schenn and Couturier out of play forever, Philly managed to take the series 4-2.

On fun and funny news…

The Bruins have not only managed to get the party started again with their episodes of “The Bear and the Gang”, but Andrew Ference has once again proved he is a motivating genius (and stepping up as captain material if and when Chara ever retires).  Last year the guys had the jacket.  I’ve talked about this before but the thing was God awful and is now hanging in retired player (sob) Mark Recchi’s closet. 

They needed something fun again this year.  Well enter Jacket 2.0 – The Chain

The chain is even more God awful than the jacket (if that’s possible) and is constructed of 20 industrial weight silver links with a padlock attached to the bottom.  Andy carved a Bruin’s 8-spoked B into the lock and clicked the thing shut. 

The chain is given to the best player of the night (Kelly is wearing it above after his OT winning goal in Game 1) and the links represent the fact that among the 20 players on the ice/dressed for a game, there isn’t a single weak link in the bunch.

Plus its good for neck workouts because that thing must weigh about 600 pounds.

It sure is fun, motivating, and a nice way to thank each other for the hard work out there.  Now bring the series to a close with a win at home on Wednesday and let’s see who gets to be the hockey equivalent of Flavor-Flav for killing it in game 7 of the first round.

Picture of Chris Kelly wearing The Chain taken as a still from - http://video.bruins.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=659&id=172067